Hagerstown teenager wanted in shooting of another teenager is apprehended

December 23, 2011|By DON AINES | dona@herald-mail.com

By Ric Dugan/Staff Photographer

A Hagerstown teenager wanted in the Oct. 17 shooting of another teenager downtown was found Friday afternoon hiding in a closet of a house in the city's West End.

"He came back to town one time too many," Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith said of Dennis S. Marshall Jr., who was taken in handcuffs from the town house at 57 Avalon Ave.

Marshall, 17, whose last listed address in court records was 228 Taylor Ave., was wanted in the shooting of Colin Wesley Williams, 18, of Hagerstown.

Williams, who is charged with attempted murder in an Oct. 6 stabbing in the city, was shot in broad daylight near the intersection of Jonathan Street and Wellers Alley.

After the shooting, police issued an arrest warrant for Marshall on charges of attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment.

Smith said police received information at about 3 p.m. that Marshall was at a house on Avalon Avenue. Two houses adjacent to each other were searched before Marshall was found, he said.

The Washington County Special Response Team was called and an armored vehicle was parked behind the houses. Sharpshooters pointed rifles at the residences.

"Dennis Marshall, come out with your hands up," an officer could be heard saying through a loudspeaker. Marshall did not come out, but about 10 people — including about eight children — emerged from the back door of the house where Marshall was eventually found.

A woman who told police it was her house gave them permission to search the house, and the children and the woman's daughter were escorted away from the house by Detective Tammy Jurado.

Shortly thereafter, the woman walked over to her daughter and then back toward Smith and other officers stationed about 30 yards from the house.

"My daughter told me that boy ran in my house" said the woman, who told police she had been out grocery shopping.

"Why in my house, with all my grandkids in there?" she asked.

SRT members entered the house and brought Marshall out a few minutes later. Lt. Thomas Langston said Friday night that Marshall had been taken to police headquarters for questioning.

The Oct. 17 shooting was not the first serious crime with which Marshall was charged this year. In February, he and another juvenile were charged with holding up Nadia's Convenience Store in Hagerstown. Charged as an adult, Marshall later had his case transferred to juvenile court, and a circuit court judge ruled in July that there was insufficient evidence that he was involved in the robbery.

Williams, the man whom Marshall is accused of shooting, recovered from his gunshot wound and is in Washington County Detention Center on $750,000 bond. He is charged with attempted first-degree murder and other offenses in the Oct. 6 stabbing of another male near the intersection of George and High streets.